Nov 18th 2017

The Golden Joystick Awards and some Guinness

The Golden Joystick Awards were yesterday. Pretty much all the awards weren’t a surprise since they’re voted on by the public, but there were a few categories where it was a close call. For one game, there were even a few extra awards.

It would be hard to argue that PlayerUnknwn’s Battleground (PUBG) has been one of the more popular games of the year. In March it came out for Steam Early Access, and in a few short months it broke a lot of records. The Golden Joystick Awards acknowledged the game’s popularity by awarding it the PC Game of the Year, and Best Multiplayer Game. Which is impressive for a game that hasn’t even technically been released yet. During the awards, PUBG also got official confirmation that it held seven separate Guinness World Records. Which are:

Fastest time to sell 1 million units for a Steam Early Access game
Fastest Steam Early Access game to gross $100 million
First videogame to reach 2 million concurrent players on Steam
Most actively played game on Steam
Most concurrent players for a Steam Early Access game
Most concurrent players on Steam for a non-Valve videogame
First non-Valve videogame to be the most played game on Steam

This has been a fantastic year for PUBG. However, another game did better at the awards themselves. This was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which won the coveted Ultimate Game of the Year, Nintendo Game of the Year, Critcs’ Choice Award, and Best Audio. Breath of the Wild has been praised since t came out, and it looks like the praise has held up through to these awards at least.

In a lot of categories it seemed the fan favorites won, but that's the point in an open vote isn't it? The popular one gets the most votes and wins the category it hopefully deserves. Did you vote for any that won? Did it turn out how you expected?

If you're looking for the full list of winners they were:

Best Storytelling - Horizon Zero Dawn
Best Visual Design - Cuphead
Best Audio - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Best Gaming Performance sponsored by The Sun - Ashly Burch (Horizon Zero Dawn)
Best Indie Game in collaboration with Square Enix Collective - Friday the 13th: The Game
Best Multiplayer Game sponsored by GT Omega - PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Studio of the Year - Nintendo EPD
Best VR Game - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Esports Play of the Year sponsored by Intel - Agilities
Esports Team of the Year - Lunatic-Hai
Esports Game of the Year sponsored by Omen by HP - Overwatch
Best Streamer / Broadcaster - Markiplier
Handheld / Mobile Game of the Year sponsored by Bespoke Arcades - Pokémon Sun and Moon
Nintendo Game of the Year - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
PlayStation Game of the Year - Horizon Zero Dawn
Xbox Game of the Year - Cuphead
PC Game of the Year - PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Critics' Choice Award - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Breakthrough Award sponsored by Badfly - Ashly Burch
Hall of Fame - Final Fantasy
Most Wanted Award - The Last of Us Part 2
Still Playing Award - World of Tanks
Outstanding Contribution to the UK Games Industry sponsored by The Telegraph - Debbie Bestwick MBE
Lifetime Achievement - Sid Meier
Ultimate Game of the Year - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild